Accurate estimates of leaf area index (LAI) could provide useful information to forest managers, but due to difficulties in measurement, leaf area is rarely used in decision-making. A reliable approach to remotely estimating LA1 would greatly facilitate its use in forest management. This study investigated the potential for using small-footprint iDAR, a laser-based...

Satellite imagery can potentially reduce the costs and time associated with ground-based forest inventories; however, for satellite imagery to provide reliable forest inventory data, it must produce consistent results from one time period to the next. The objective of this study was to temporally validate a Landsat-based volume estimation model in a four county study...

The accumulation of small diameter trees (SDTs) is becoming a nationwide concern. Forest management practices such as fire suppression and selective cutting of high grade timber have contributed to an overabundance of SDTs in many areas. Alternative value-added utilization of SDTs (for composite wood products and biofuels) has prompted the need to estimate their...

Site index is the most widely used method for site quality assessment in hardwood forests of the eastern United States. Its application in most oak (Quercus sp. L.) dominated stands is often problematic, however, because available sample trees usually do not meet important underlying assumptions of the method. A prototype method for predicting site index from tree...

Characteristic arborescent communities of mesophytic or xerophytic species have long been recognized as indicative of forest site quality in the Southern Appalachians, where soil moisture availability is the primary environmental variable affecting productivity. But, a workable quantitative system of site classification based on species composition is not available. We...

Eastern white pine (Pinus strobus L.) is a highly productive native conifer of the southern Appalachian Mountains that has long been established in plantations for conventional purposes of afforestation and timber production and potentially for carbon sequestration both within and outside its natural range. Growth-and-yield models are not available, however, for use by...

A clinal female fight polymorphism exists in the gypsy moth, Lymantria dispar, L., where female flight diminishes from east to west across Eurasia. A Russian population where females are capable of sustained ascending flight and a North American population with females incapable of flight were crossed: parentals, reciprocal F1,

Hurricane Katrina?s passage through south Mississippi on August 29, 2005, which damaged or destroyed thousands of hectares of forest land, was followed by massive salvage, cleanup, and assessment efforts. An initial assessment by the Mississippi Forestry Commission estimated that over $1 billion in raw wood material was downed by the storm, with county-level damage...

In Mississippi and Alabama, urban population growth is pushing development into rural areas. To study the impact of urbanization on timber harvesting, census and forest inventory data were combined in a geographic information system, and a logistic regression model was used to estimate the relationship between several variables and harvest probabilities....

Past research shows a discrepancy between apparent nitrogen supply and the annual growth requirements for early successional plant communities along the Tanana River floodplain in interior Alaska. Because previous measurements of nitrogen fixation, mineralization, and deposition can only account for approximately 26% of these communities' nitrogen requirements,...

Larch sawfly (LSF) (Pristiphora erichsonii) is an invasive defoliator in Alaska. Based on aerial survey data, this insect has impacted an estimated 600,000 to 700,000 acres of eastern larch (Larix laricina) stands in Alaska during a 6-year period between 1999 and 2004. Mortality of larch within the sawfly-defoliated area was 80 percent or more (...

Quaking aspen (Populus tremuloides Michx.) are the most widely distributed tree species across North America, but its dominance is declining in many areas of the western United States, with certain areas experiencing rapid mortality events over the past decade. The loss of aspen from western landscapes will continue to profoundly impact biological, commercial, and...

Acorns are important as wildlife food and for oak regeneration, but production is highly variable, posing a challenge to forest managers targeting acorn production levels. Forest managers need tools to predict acorn production capability tailored to individual landscapes and forest management scenarios, adjusting for oak mortality and stand development over time. We...